18 February 2015

There are no circumstances in which using children for sex is acceptable. HIV Specialist for UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Shirley Mark Prabhu says: “The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been signed by all countries in this region, is very clear on this point. There is no such thing as a child prostitute. Any child under the age of 18 is a victim of sexual exploitation. It violates their rights to health, education and a childhood.”

Chiang Mai, 1 February 2015 – As the last rays of daylight are about to disappear, Aong Mooring, 17, wipes the sweat from his face and puts down his gardening tools in a shed. His long day of work in the orange orchards in Fang district of Chiang Mai has come to an end, and it is now time for something that he has been looking forward to all day – going to school.